Notes from the Underground >>

• Best Underground/Under-the-Ground Writer
  William S. Burroughs
  Maybe because it seemed, oddly, that he would never die, few people realize that maverick American writer William Burroughs was laid to rest here, in his hometown. After his funeral in Lawrence, Kan. -- where he resided for the last 16 years of his life -- he was buried in the Burroughs family... More >>
• Best Underground Railroad Site
  Tracks Still Under Construction
  Richard Hudlin, a technical writer and native St. Louisan, grew up hearing about his great-great-grandfather Peter, a free black man who risked his freedom and perhaps his very life helping fugitive slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. He'd heard about the runaways in crates who... More >>
• Best Caves
  Lemp Brewery
  It's strange, accessing the Lemp caves. You don't crawl in the expected way, on your tummy, walkie-talkie in hand, wearing a spelunker's helmet, or plot strategies with subterranean maps. You just walk into a building, turn on a few lights and proceed to a cargo elevator that drops you three... More >>
• Best Kitsch
  Meramec Caverns
  What's the cheesiest thing in your house? A snow globe of the Manhattan skyline, a spring-loaded hula-girl statuette, maybe a velvet Elvis? What draws you to these cheap, tawdry trinkets, anyway? A lush, nostalgic, rather sad yearning for something outside your daily experience, that's what.... More >>
• Best Adaptive Reuse of Underground St. Louis
  Westin St. Louis Hotel at Cupples Station
  The four buildings that form the new Westin St. Louis hotel, adjacent to Busch Stadium in the former Cupples Warehouse complex, are impressive enough as it is if you simply view them above street level. From ornate brickwork and arches to large loft-style room windows to a promenade echoing the... More >>
• Best Scuba Diving
  Bonne Terre Mines
  Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine/a man will have lust for the lure of the mine -- Merle Travis Like space travel, nuclear fission or dropping acid, scuba diving is an unnatural adventure, something people feel compelled to do despite the violation of nature's strictest... More >>
• Best Dig
  American Bottom Archaeology Project
  The Gateway Arch is a unique and compelling monument, but across the river are more mysterious public works. Unlike the Arch, which stretches legibly across the city skyline, the Cahokia Mounds recede into the dirt, and all of their secrets are underground. Making sense of these enigmas has... More >>
• Best Buried Treasure
  Lily Bulbs
  "Oh, Tiger Lily, I wish you could talk." "We can talk, when there is anybody worth talking to." -- Lewis Carroll, Alice Through the Looking Glass Some of us judge other people. Diane Engelsdorfer judges lilies. Petals crepey? Color muddied or pollen-stained? Flowers (God forbid)... More >>
• Best Underground Workers
  Metropolitan Sewer District's Crawl Crews
  On a clear day in St. Louis, Chris Cacciatore can be found 18 feet beneath the city -- an oxygen mask strapped to his face, huge rubber boots covering his legs and a headset around his ears that links him to the partners on his team on the streets overhead. He slowly plods through giant 10-foot... More >>
• Best Place to Stock the Basement Dungeon
  Barbdwyr
  Two men stand admiring a piece of leather bondage equipment. One of them, Barbdwyr owner/proprietor Bryan Brandt, is giving the other, a new client (Brandt prefers "clientele" over "customers") a few tips. The client is dressed in plaid shirt and blue jeans, sports a well-trimmed beard and... More >>
• Best Underground (Figuratively) Restaurant
  Beffa's
  It's a regular tagline in the writings of Jerry Berger: "Overheard at Beffa's." Look in the phone book, though, and there's no Beffa's listed. Even if you're clever enough to divine that the place is located at 2700 Olive St., you won't see any signs from the street, unless you can read the... More >>
• Best Underground (Literally) Restaurant
  Rossino's
  Walking into Rossino's, it becomes apparent that you have arrived at not just a restaurant but a destination. First, you descend the stairs to the grottolike entrance. Then you walk in the place, and if you haven't been here before, you try to find your bearings. That's because it's possibly... More >>